Coming Home
by Flamekaat
Summary: Start of an idea caused by way to little sleep and way to much wage slavery. Read and review. Right now its tiny. Nothing I write stays this way. Warnings: Violence, gore, loopy OFC's, hospital stays, OOC all over the place.
1. Chapter 1

The scene was a strange one. The ceiling unfamiliar and the sounds of people rushing about and jabbering in a language that she didn't understand for a bit until it coalesced into her native tongue again. Had the creeps killed her or nearly so? Had she been brain damaged bad enough to not have a linguistic ability anymore? She was in the hospital. How the heck had she gotten there? Oh yes that was correct the police had rolled up on her assault in progress. Obviously that had somehow resulted in her transport to the hospital.

"What hospital am I in? I must confess I don't remember a damned thing after the cherry berries lit up the night at my near murder."

"You might not remember a lot of things from just before. I am Dr. Huntsington. This is Tranquility general hospital. This will be your home for quite a while. You are in traction just in case you tried to move and found you really couldn't. They were so brutal and heartless in beating you. I have never seen the like. If that person had not come up on you in time you would be dead. Many others might not say person but I will never doubt it again circumstances not withstanding."

Why would someone who had come to her rescue when she was being brutally brutally beat to death by gang members intent on her murder not be a person? Then she did have a flash of memory in the dark night of a twisting sound of metal scraping on metal and of blood spraying and fountaining out of flesh that was not hers. Eyes of shining red brighter then neon back lit blood. Oh now she knew why.

"It was a... a what are they called again? I can't think. Please remind me what they are called again. I don't remember..."

"A Decepticon. One Barricade by Designation. Now that you are awake I need you to think of a good reason why the cons might want you alive rather then dead. We have taken a look at your background and I am shocked to find that you are just about the most boring and average individual I have ever before met in my life. To the point that being so average is unusual. The only thing unique about you is your ability to understand so many languages. Fourteen at last count?"

"Twenty. I learned Croatian, and five different dialects from obscure places in Africa and Asian minor in the last few years since my college records were put together. Not that it matters to you because you just put yourself on the list of people who don't get spoken to. I am in a hospital gown and in the middle of being examined by a doctor. I have excellent health insurance and am fully covered for all matters mayhem and not. SO unless you are an insurance adjuster you can send the feds in after I am dressed decently enough to receive guests and wait for the results of their pathetic little interrogations. GET OUT!"

The man in the crisp military uniform looked offended and like he was about to not listen. A bright eyed man in a blue t shirt and a black jean jacket and matching jeans grabbed him and dragged him out of the room bodily before he could protest.

"Major Lennox is right however my dear. You had best think hard and figure out why that Decepticon would want you alive. It might be important in figuring out how to make sure you stay that way. They seem to have a very limited use for us humans from what I can tell, and that seems to be mostly as blood filled hacky sacks."

"Same use I fulfill for gang members it seems. None of this is giant robot related. That is what I would tell the Feds and its just very true facts. I have never made the acquaintance of any such beings in all my life and am sorry to say that it is no longer that way from what I can tell. Apparently the being called Barricade put me inside himself during his little rescue to deliver me to this place here... I remember hurting a lot and apologizing for bleeding on the upholstery. The fellow in the drivers seat laughed."

"That was a hologram just like I am miss."

"Sir?"

The man in the jean jacket was back. He was looking at her with bright blue eyes that seemed to contain all ferocity and all gentleness at the same time. It was strange but the eyes she saw reminded her of the gaze of that person who had driven her to the hospital. It was getting harder to think and she was pretty sure she was going to pass out very soon.

"His eyes were very like yours. Not blue but fierce and kind all at once and...nice. He said it "felt strange to have this programming active after all these Vorns." What's a Vorn?" Then she closed her eyes and let go of trying to be awake anymore.

"Its almost certain Prime. He told the human that it felt strange to have a program active after many vorns. The only program that could be activating that would feel strange to a con is a guardian base programming. Barricade is the frame and sub type to have it. Obviously it did not override his instinctive hunter drives or he would have found another way to deal with the human criminals other then killing them all so brutally. Yet he did save the girl and deliver her to medical attention. Afterwords he was reported at several near by locations decimating the local populous of the same type of miscreants."

"Miscreants is too nice a word I think Ironhide."

"I do try hard not to judge. But with what they did to her Ratchet I can't say as how I'd argue with you on that one."

"Smart mechs don't argue with their medics. Speaking of smart mechs, where is Prowl? He has nearly the same sub wiring as Barricade. He might be able to offer us some insight as to how the mech is thinking now with all these long unused sub routines activating on him all of a sudden."

"Prime? What do we do about this? While he is not a threat to the girl right now there might be other issues that arise from this."

"For now we observe Ironhide. The small femme is in need of watching in any case. These men who hurt her are still dangerous and even more so now that they feel threatened by Barricade's elimination of some of their number."

A saleen mustang police car cruised slowly in an uneven fifteen square mile search grid. At it's heart was Tranquility general. The uneven side held a riverside with no human habitations or likely hangout spots for law breaking enemies of the public. Barricade knew that the girl was set to testify against the gang leaders when she finally was able to be moved for even a minute outside her hospital bed. The police computers remained open to him. Sometimes he suspected that various back doors were left open to him a purpose. There was no reason for these leaks to not be plugged as soon as they were seen otherwise. So he patrolled.

Why his dormant programming had kicked over when he detected the crime happening he would never be certain. A more religious mech would say it was the will of Primus. He would tell them they were glitched. Primus had to be a mech of faster processing speed then any in existence. He would not randomly pick some flesh bag out of the billions of flesh bags for Barricade to bond to as a guardian. So logically a reason had to exist. He would interrogate the small femme as soon as she was able to tolerate his presence. Until then he stayed on patrol.

{A/N: wrote something. Despite 19 hours of overtime and my reg forty this week working. now to go to my Friday. Yay! Please leave reviews if you would.}


	2. Chapter 2

Her mouth tasted like crap, and with both arms and a lot more then that broken it was hard to get a drink of water. She called out in her ragged voice, harsh from being intubated before her first return to consciousness. The sound was soft but it was answered by movement. The jean jacket clad hologram person from before gave her water. Relief somewhat achieved she blacked out again.

This seemed to be a pattern, and no matter what time it was when she woke up the person seemed handy to get her what she needed.

"What is your name? You've helped me a lot for no reason other then feeling like it. I feel I should know who you are."

Her whisper was so soft it was barely there and it sounded more frog like then she would have wished. She doubted she would be making the best of impressions any time soon. There was nothing to be done about it but deal. She was so broken that a few years of therapy was probably scheduled for after she actually would hold together outside a full body traction with most of her in a cast. Sad but waiting and fighting the sleep they had her medicated into most of the time, she sighed when he finished with something else he was doing to pass the time and turned to answer her.

"Ironhide."

"Thank you for being handy Ironhide. The family, such as it is, is way to far across the country to be of any use. Not that they can afford to lose a days wages let alone the few months I would need to have a watcher."

"The records showed that it was so. I got permission for this. Even Barricade's buried guardian protocols activated when he came across your fragile shell. Mine kicked over the second I saw you as well. Kid, hell your a mess, and you are going to need a watcher for a lot longer then the few months, so I am here when you need me. Don't worry about anything but getting better. That is the only thing that should concern you."

She passed out a second later having reassured herself she had someone to back her up while she mended. Decepticons or not human kind was still it's own worst enemy.

:She is a mess. I will forward you her medical records, along with some links to the standard readings for comparisons.:

:I should be the one protecting her and helping her.:

:Yes, but you can not. I am the second best choice right now. That will have to be good enough until she is watched less often and you can approach her.:

:That will be a while.:

:I will make her aware that the guard will change when its suitable for it to do so. Right now she is too medicated to be very logical, or make much headway in understanding our more complicated mechanics. :

:Primus but shes nearly dust!:

:Stay Calm Guardian! She will need your strength while she recovers, not your anger at her attackers!:

:True but...:

:I feel the same. I am glad you destroyed those you could catch. I wish you had caught them all.:

:The region's law will soon have the whole of them in custody for various crimes against their neighbors. Elimination is the only solution I can think of if the humans want to cure this degeneration of their culture that is spreading like a disease. They are still too soft for using the correct answers though.:

:They are right in the way they do it though. Elimination would make martyrs of their national public enemies in the eyes of the younger criminal set. They want to discourage repeats of their behavior not make them folk heroes for the next generation of scum.:

:Also true. Just as it always has been the universe gives no easy answers.:

:Very philosophical as well as utterly true. She is waking up again. I will keep you posted.:

When she reached for a hand to hold it was not the regular jean clad digital soul that clasped it as had become normal in the last weeks. Instead it was the military man who had come to her bedside before.

"I'm sorry about before. I hate them so much that I forget sometimes they are the same as my friends just with far less restraint then the Autobots have and that not all of them are on the same level of monster as Megatron and his chief cadre members."

"From what I understand it is a grand scale civil war?"

"Yeah that's Hide's specialty though. He will tell you more about it if you ask. I just came back to let you know that it was a matter of programming not some grand big scary plot on the part of the cons to mess your life up in some scheme of world domination. It might even turn out to be a...a good thing if you can be strong enough through all the bad things."

"I am in traction a grand total of twenty seven hundred and fifty three miles from my nearest family member and there is no way in the nine hells any of them will be able to come no mater what. Tell me some thing I don't already know. Of course my next three years or more of life are going to be craptastically hellacious. I don't yield to easily. It will be six months before I can even start physical therapy. I was lucky not to totally lose the use of my arms, the left more then the right for some odd reason. Yet here I am. I am willing to fight against my problems, but right now I just need to be medicated and fussed over until my bones knit back together o.k.?"

"Fair enough. Hide will be with you. He said something about not being able to leave a chosen charge guarded by non guardians. This means that unless Barricade is able to get to you you are with him I suppose. He will keep an eye on you but he trusted me long enough to talk with you while he took a break to refuel."

"I'm back Will. You can go back to your duties now. This duty is mine."

The next time she woke up she realized something. By being some sort of bone of contention between them that she may have broken the friendship between the major and her substitute guardian.

"You should still be friends. I don't like it when friends break up their friendships over something silly like for instance my being in the hospital. Neither of you is at fault for that and some people react badly to this environment. Especially the really active types. So you can kiss manners goodbye in here a lot because people in this place get grief stricken very fast and it affects their judgment. I know it's hard, but don't stay mad at him and don't write him out of your life. He cares about you a lot. You really can tell."

"He is quite an active person. He never is really down at all, even in his supposed scheduled down times. His mate often has to insist that he 'settle down' or he would run until his energy reserves are dry."

"Then this place where even the active find them selves accursed would terrify him. Never would he admit it, but come on, hospitals are the worst for athletes and soldiers."

"Truth little femme. Now find your way through this pudding before you return to sleep."

"Yes Ironhide."

"For you it's just Hide kiddo. Tuck into this chocolatey gunk now like a good kid."

"Okay I will...Hide."

{A/N: Yay another chapter. this thing was not even on the first seven pages of stories. Hate that. Chapter or two until Cade comes on back. Into the main fic portion. Anyone with imput as to physical therapy especially for badly broken bones I need some input. 3 the one review I got thanks!}


	3. Chapter 3

Ch3

When she woke again her head was somewhat clearer then usual and she knew as long as she stayed relaxed and did not try to strain herself out of traction she would be mostly pain free.

"Hide?"

"Here kiddo."

"I would like to visit him if I can. This bed has wheels and I know they roll us hard up folks out into the gardens for some sunshine since its springtime. Could he make it in and out without trouble do you think?"

"I can contact him and see if it would be feasible. I am the only Autobot here. I would guess since we are under guardian protocol truce that would mean he would not feel that the threat outweighed the gain."

_:She wants to meet with you in the hospital gardens.:_

_:Good as done then. I have been...eager to meet with her as well.:_

The sun shone down and she sighed with relief at not being slightly refrigerated feeling. Blankets put pressure, which hurt, on her wounded limbs and torso. So she just had to stay cold because the thermostat in her room was defective or locked somehow and no one could get it to cooperate.

He had the sense not to block the sun. That pleased her more then anything right at the moment. Her heart rate slowed back down to fully medicated levels the moment she looked into those ruby hued orbs. He was not pretending, or at least not up close he was not. She supposed that she would not need to be afraid of him. The little snippets of what Hide had said to her and told his friend while he thought she was all the way unconscious floated around and coalesced in her thoughts. Guardian Protocols meant that Barricade would do the opposite of try to harm her. He would possibly give his life to defend her. That something millions of years in age would possibly pass away on behalf of someone who was comparatively a mayfly in lifespan made her suddenly feel very small, sad and pathetic.

"I shouldn't be alive. Because of you I am. Thank you. I'm sorry you ended up saddled with something so weak and pathetic and useless as I am going to be for a long long time."

"You fleshlings are so amusing sometimes. Not just those who are weak need guardians. Ask Ironhide whom he usually is guardian over when not protecting that fleshy family of which he is so fond, or standing in for me of late with you."

"Who is it Hide? Who do you normally stand guard over?"

"_I_ am a guardian of Primes little one. First Sentinel then Optimus Prime have both been my charges. Optimus still is under my guard. Optimus is one of the most strong and majestic beings in this galaxy. Normally he needs no protection physically but a Guardian does not just protect your shell they protect your spark. Or in this case something much smaller but just as wonderful. Barricade's new duty is to ward your heart and your soul as well as your improving physical health."

She stilled even more then she had been when the illusion of a police officer touched her. It tingled somewhat when his digital flesh made contact with her own but otherwise was not unpleasant. It had to be a variance on frequencies because Hide tingled too but his was cool like a/c out of a car with a full tank of coolant, while this tingle from Barricade was warm and felt like summer in the sun in the early part of the day before it got to hot to handle. That feeling was wonderful because she had been so freaking cold so long she wondered if she would ever be warm again, even out here in the spring sunshine. That hand on her cheek and the smile in the eyes of the once and future vicious metal monster who had become her protector made her smile back.

*"You and I are going to get into a lot of trouble togeher Big Brother Barricade."

*"That is almost certain Little Sister."

Barricade laughed while the other guardian tried to figure out what language was used and translate it. Once he discovered it there was no doubt in barricade's processor that the human would just switch to another. She knew a vast amount of languages when the next best at linguistics spoke eight as far as he could determine.

*"He will figure it out eventually you know. I hope I have the opportunity to learn your language also."

*"The majority of your people would not be able to. With the time you have on your hands and your capabilities you just might."

Hide's eyes narrowed then he sent a data burst to Barricade with the 'incoming' signal he had long ago devised for other guardians only. Cade's own gaze grew dark and he spoke a farewell in yet another of earth's many tongues to his crippled charge and leaned in at her request. The kiss on the cheek of his hologram obviously startled him but he was not a mech who failed to pull it all together. He was gone in a few swift strides around a corner and out of range of surveillance cameras where he could dissolve and simply disappear. Hide's audios detected the fierce roar of a cybertronian engine and he knew Barricade had cleared the region in time. Guardian truce was Guardian truce and was for Guardians only. Primes and their entourage did not have any reason to uphold such truces.


End file.
